photo block

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Après Le Tour de France

Another Tour has come to a close but I still have so many images and colors flashing through my head - the riders, the landscapes, the fans, the towns... So much to reminisceabout!

And deeper lessons to be found. One thing that I'm reminded of year after year because of my Tour addiction is to ride ones bicycle out in the proper place in the road. We see that these racers get closed roads for all three weeks and wouldn't that be swell! To ride wherever one wants anywhere on the road - even on the wrong side of the road on a screaming descent around blind corners! I don't think I could get myself to ride like that even if the roads were completely closed. But dialing it back a little... I find myself riding further out in the road after each Tour. Out in the proper place. In a safe position to avoid the door zone and mindful, of course, of the fact that many drivers find this a confusing, frustrating place for a bicycle to be and so giving them the impression of yielding towards the right to allow them to pass on the left. It's very nearly a Jedi mind trick. Starting out in one's safe and responsible and appropriate and legal place on the road - I don't want to get into the number of feet/meters from a curb or car because every situation is different and must be adapted to on the fly - as the sound of an overtaking vehicle approaches from behind the bicycle rider ever so slightly slides to the right - and here I'll suggest that it often doesn't take more than a few inches to pacify the passing driver. Of course, if the situation and the surroundings allow for it, go ahead and give more - as much as possible, really - why would one want to ride anywhere near a car - but, as we all know, sometimes we must...